To members of the Timbertown Dollogy Club, they provide those memories but many are also collectibles populating the “doll rooms” in members’ homes. And then there are the doll clothes, dollhouses, and doll accessories like table and chair sets, clothing wardrobes, mini high chairs, cradles, and more.

But don’t ask a collector how many dolls she has! Most admit that they’re a bit embarrassed to give a total, although they are always happy to show dolls from their collections, which also reflect history, hairstyles, fashion, and culture of the decades in which they were popular. In fact, the doll club members spend meeting times researching different dolls and doll manufacturers, as well as educating and helping others with philanthropic projects.

The Dollogy Club celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2011, and has about 40 to 50 members throughout mid-Michigan.

Doll collector Jackie Willman, 74, of Saginaw, can tell with vivid recall the story of where and when her lifelong love of dolls began. It was seven decades ago in Detroit and was in the midst of World War II.

“We lived in the Book-Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, because my father was transferred from New York City to Detroit. All the houses were going to veterans and families of veterans. So here was my poor Mom on the 26th floor with this little girl while Dad went to work for Uniroyal. She would entertain me by taking me by streetcar to Toyland — the 12th floor of toys at J. L. Hudson Company on Woodward. They had wonderful Christmas displays. It was huge. They had multiple Santa Clauses. I went so often that Santa would say, ‘Hi Jackie, how are you?’ My doll came from Santa that year. I had picked her out and went and talked to her every day. She was an Effanbee Sweetie Pie. I loved her. She came in a big suitcase of clothes with a bottle.”

An only child for 8 1/2 years, Willman remembers fondly how her mom played dolls with her. “She taught me the love of dolls. She sewed for them. We played paper dolls. I would come home from school, and I would have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and so would my doll. We had her high chair in the kitchen and a little table and chairs,” Willman said.

Willman is a dealer who sells dolls, accessories and toys at the Antique Warehouse in Saginaw, and she will be selling dolls dating from the early 1900s through the 1940s at the May show. She has been a member of the local doll club for 25 years.

Doll club member Jennifer Schultz, 63, combines her love of color, art and sewing with her love of dolls. She is an accomplished portrait artist in Midland and a retired art teacher, having taught at Adams Elementary School for 25 years as well as at other schools. “I’ve always been interested in dolls. They are a creative extension for me of working with children,” she said.

She has been a collector for 35 years of various doll types and admits to having dolls in every room in her home. “I group them by color, because I’m a painter and I have a color focus.” For example, in a display case in her living room are nun dolls in black habits. In the family room are Japanese dolls, “because my daughter-in-law, Kazuko, is Japanese. Some of these dolls are from the era after World War II when soldiers came back and probably brought back the dolls.” On the wall of her home is a portrait she painted of her daughter that shows her holding a favorite doll.

But Schultz is most interested in dolls from the 1950s, because that’s when she was playing with them as a little girl. “The 1950s were the golden era of dolls,” Schultz said. “Most little girls in the ’50s got dolls for Christmas. Popular ones were ballerinas, bride dolls and baby dolls, because if you asked a girl in the ’50s what she wanted to be when she grew up, you’d often hear ‘be a ballerina, get married, or be a mommy.’”

Schultz has Betsy McCall dolls from the 1950s, as well as a small Betsy McCall round suitcase to hold the doll and her clothes. “That was my favorite, because I sewed for her. I would draw the clothes and sew them. I always wanted to be an artist. I got my first Barbie in 1961 and sewed a whole wardrobe of clothes for her.”

Other dolls in her collection include ones from cosmetics companies like the Little Miss Revlon doll or the Toni home permanent doll, which was sold with a pretend home permanent in the box with the doll.

In Schultz’s “doll room” — an upstairs guest bedroom -— in addition to dozens of showcased dolls is a framed photo of her with her sister taken in 1958 at Christmas time. They are posed in front of the fireplace, and each girl is holding the doll she received from Santa. Out in the hallway, a baby doll sleeps in Schultz’s childhood doll cradle. In the dining room, a side table holds a display of reproduction French dolls, which are dressed in clothing made from original patterns from the 20th century. The clothes were made by Mary Spence of Ann Arbor, Schultz’s sister in the framed photo.

“She tried to use original fabrics of the era — no synthetics. They have mohair wigs, glass eyes, and silk dresses. You can’t put a value on the ability to sew like that,” Schultz said. She changes the dolls’ clothing per season, and for her current springtime display added items like a bird’s nest with eggs and pussy willow branches in a vase.

Another “doll room” is in the home of Gloria Aaron, 79, of Freeland. She has her childhood doll table and chairs where dolls are seated for tea time with blue willow dishes. That’s where she used to sit for tea with her dolls, and she remembers that her mother would sit down with them, too. Dolls sleep in a beautiful bassinet for which her mother made a mattress, a lining of bright pink satin, and a skirt from a dotted swiss fabric curtain which hangs to the floor.

But the dominant feature of the room is Aaron’s childhood antique dollhouse. It dates back to the early 1900s and was originally owned and decorated by her aunt who was a miniature collector. Aaron inherited it, played with it as a child, and has updated it over the years. But each of its seven rooms is primarily decorated to represent the 1940s. The living room has an antique Christmas tree. A puppy chews on a shoe on the floor. A curling iron rests on the dresser in the bedroom. Hooked rugs cover the floors. All in miniature, of course.

“My dollhouse is like what my house was like,” Aaron said. “My husband wallpapered all the rooms. Grandpa and Grandma are reading the “McCall’s” and “Country Gentleman” magazines. Rudy Vallee and Rosemarie were popular singers from long ago, so that sheet music (of their songs) is on the piano. Where is mother? Well, she’s in the kitchen. It’s like my life. We collected antiques but also had new things. So I put in a television set.”

Aaron also collects Shirley Temple dolls and has one of the oldest versions from the 1930s. Her Barbies are from the 1960s, and her display includes a stewardess Barbie complete with a baby blue toy airplane with pink seats for the dolls to ride in. Aaron collects these airline-related Barbie items because she previously worked for Capital Airlines in Detroit.

“Some people consider dolls to be an art form,” Willman said. “They are reflective of hair styles, costumes, and production materials of their eras. All of that is very interesting to us.”

“These ladies are very knowledgeable and serious about preserving a part of our history that would probably end up in a dumpster. They know their stuff,” Schultz said about the doll club members.

The members of the Timbertown Dollogy Club say that they are always happy to give educational doll programs. They have contributed to Toys for Tots and also have donated computerized dolls called “Baby Think It Over” to the Child Abuse and Neglect Council of Saginaw County. That organization uses these life-size baby dolls with realistic computerized responses in their programs with teens to help them experience some of the demands of infant care.